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Well it’s true. It’s so true it’s become a joke. We joke that it’s a tradition that we end up at the ER for holidays.

Mind you, we’ve been to the ER on non-holidays. But I think we now have logged more times in the ER on a holiday vs. on a non-holiday. We’ve done stitches on most of the occasions. New Year’s Day 2007, Maura got eight stitches in the back of her head after being that one little monkey who fell off my bed when all four were jumping on there. Labor Day 2007 Collin fell off his bike into gravel, cutting his knee open and ending up with six stitches. Easter of this year, Maura was all sorts of sick thanks to a virus that caused an ear infection, which caused seizures, plus high fevers, which caused vomiting, which caused her not to keep her medicine down, which caused seizures and high fevers (can you see the vicious cycle.)

Last summer’s visit was one of those “only us” moments – Maura fell at a luncheon after the funeral for a friend of ours, knocking her head on the floor and causing a gash. Amazingly, there happened to be a pediatrician right there who checked her over, bandaged the wound, gave us an ice pack and informed us she’d need a couple of stitches but otherwise was fine – which if you have a child who has seizures, is quite reassuring! We also impressed the heck out of our old college friends who saw us rally troops and head to the local ER in a calm and orderly fashion. It was when we were at the ER that I realized it was actually the 4th of July. Curse of the Holiday struck again.

The most dramatic – and truly scary – ER visit was with Miriam, who was one day shy of sixteen months. It was Thanksgiving 2001, we were at my mom’s house (which was then in Chicago), and teeny tiny baby Miriam somehow slipped through a five inch gap, between the rails of the second floor hallway. We’re not sure how. It was one of those moments where despite doing all the right things, something horrible still happened. In this case, it was Miriam falling from the second floor to the first floor, hitting a step before hitting ceramic tile. Or so we’ve theorized afterwards. At the time, I heard a thud, went to check, found her on the floor, wide-eyed yet strangely quiet. Josh was still trapped upstairs because you see, he closed and locked the baby gate upstairs – you know, for safety. We rushed her to the ER only to be sent home six hours later with a child who, despite her plunge, had only a bruise on her forehead from where she hit the tile. She recovered easily. Josh and I are still spooked by the incident almost nine years later.

So far, our totals are New Year’s Day, Easter, 4th of July, Labor Day, and Thanksgiving. We do feel Christmas is covered by Christmas 2006, when we got The Plague while visiting relatives (The Plague was a horrible stomach virus of which we do not speak of any further. )

You may be wondering why I’ve brought all this up. The answer is – Memorial Day is Monday. Josh has had strep throat. Collin is on medication for strep throat as well (he got to bypass the swab test since Josh got a positive and they had the same symptoms.) Tonight I felt Maura’s head…she felt warm…got out my trusty thermometer – 100 degrees. The odds are stacking against us. And the last time she got an infection, it caused breakthrough seizures, and that vicious circle of seizure/high temps/vomiting.

I may see if the doctor can see her tomorrow morning. Just to be safe. I really don’t want to see what the ER looks like on Memorial Day. This is one family tradition we don’t actually want to continue!

5 Responses to “Have I mentioned our penchant for…”

Poor Holmes family. You must be on eggshells until the holiday is done. 😦 Our family tradition is to come down with communicable diseases during school vacations. Especially if my sister and her family are down. There was the Christmas of the stomach bug. Spring Break and Strep. Weird fluish thing over Christmas break. Summer fever and lethargy (trip to see them). Nasty colds and thanksgiving. Those are the ones I remember. I don’t catalog them like you do. I’m not that organized. Here’s hoping that the trip to the ER doesn’t materialize.